Shoaib Actor is retiring? The most controversial cricketer of all time (yes.. sorry pa Andrew Symonds.. You just missed out.. ok? ok.), the man who put liability in "reliability", the sportstar who reinvented the good old game of Lagori.. (eventhough he used 3 sticks instead of 7 slabs, he proved that old Indian games are actually better to watch than western games.. RSS should probably thank him.. and the tradition is being continued now by Slinga' Malinga, yes the great haired one..)
It has been 13 years. Lot of things have changed including Indian cricket team's attitude.. But one thing has not. Shoaib and his disciplinary issues. How will it impact the Pakistani cricket? What does this actually mean? well, apart from Mohd Asif probably OD'ing by taking in too much of that stuff which got him caught in Arab airport when celebrating this news, I am not sure if there will be much impact on cricketers.. You see Shoaib has hardly played proper cricket.. Apart from the publicity and one off matches where he would find his aim, he was as useful to the team as Ravindra Jadeja was to Men in Blue.
Cricinfo says "his averages in both forms are the fourth-best for any Pakistan bowler who took more than 150 wickets, while his Test strike rate of 45.7 is second only to Waqar Younis' 43.4" .. What does that say? Apart from Waqar is a great fast bowler? Shoaib can bowl well if he found his rhythm. That if is so big it makes Inzamam look petite. It was so rare that it looked as if the batsmen gave their wickets due to sheer shock. I remember two of his spells. His spell against Aussies where he made Ricky Ponting, the Waugh brothers and Adam Gilchrist call their mommies is one of the best I have ever seen in Test cricket. And the way he bowled Dravid and Sachin at Kolkata..
He hardly bowled a lot in tests.. He bowled more than 30 overs in an innings only three times. and most consecutive matches he has played is 7. You could never be sure when he was fit. His body parts kept breaking down, his run up from pavillion used to take more time than a Payal Rohatgi's acting career, he fought with his opponents, he fought with his teammates.. he hit opponents with the ball and he hit teammates with the bat.. So there probably isn't a cricketer who can be more unique. And he spoke with a Bledy Amrikan accent.. How many Pakistani cricketers can talk in English? let alone an accent..
"Today I step ahead for the most significant phase of my life and walk off," thats what he said "I have decided to say goodbye. This World Cup is my last and the coming matches in the tournament would be the last few of my international career. Mentally I wanted to continue perhaps forever. But I must make way for youngsters to take over." This coming from a man who had said "How many diamonds can you retrieve from one single mine; there has to be an end somewhere. I don't see any natural fast bowler after me." is interesting. Way to go chief.. By the way he also said "My pace is up there"..Up where? (Asif.. are you listening? I hope its not for you...)
But look at what he said.. What a lousy retiring statement.. This totally doesnt suit a Pakistani cricketer. There is no "for now" or "return on condition".. Learn from Mohd Yousuf. He is so classy in retirement statements.This is how he 'retired' - " This is my retirement. I have retired from international cricket. For now, this is it. For now this is my retirement.”. See how Yousuf carried out the backfoot defence? Textbook perfect.
Even with all his news making ability, he was more exciting than any other bowler with the exception of Shane Bond. Even when he was a total idiot, he was exciting and newsworthy. Also, I hope he is actually retiring because I dont want this write-up to be a waste.
It has been 13 years. Lot of things have changed including Indian cricket team's attitude.. But one thing has not. Shoaib and his disciplinary issues. How will it impact the Pakistani cricket? What does this actually mean? well, apart from Mohd Asif probably OD'ing by taking in too much of that stuff which got him caught in Arab airport when celebrating this news, I am not sure if there will be much impact on cricketers.. You see Shoaib has hardly played proper cricket.. Apart from the publicity and one off matches where he would find his aim, he was as useful to the team as Ravindra Jadeja was to Men in Blue.
Cricinfo says "his averages in both forms are the fourth-best for any Pakistan bowler who took more than 150 wickets, while his Test strike rate of 45.7 is second only to Waqar Younis' 43.4" .. What does that say? Apart from Waqar is a great fast bowler? Shoaib can bowl well if he found his rhythm. That if is so big it makes Inzamam look petite. It was so rare that it looked as if the batsmen gave their wickets due to sheer shock. I remember two of his spells. His spell against Aussies where he made Ricky Ponting, the Waugh brothers and Adam Gilchrist call their mommies is one of the best I have ever seen in Test cricket. And the way he bowled Dravid and Sachin at Kolkata..
He hardly bowled a lot in tests.. He bowled more than 30 overs in an innings only three times. and most consecutive matches he has played is 7. You could never be sure when he was fit. His body parts kept breaking down, his run up from pavillion used to take more time than a Payal Rohatgi's acting career, he fought with his opponents, he fought with his teammates.. he hit opponents with the ball and he hit teammates with the bat.. So there probably isn't a cricketer who can be more unique. And he spoke with a Bledy Amrikan accent.. How many Pakistani cricketers can talk in English? let alone an accent..
"Today I step ahead for the most significant phase of my life and walk off," thats what he said "I have decided to say goodbye. This World Cup is my last and the coming matches in the tournament would be the last few of my international career. Mentally I wanted to continue perhaps forever. But I must make way for youngsters to take over." This coming from a man who had said "How many diamonds can you retrieve from one single mine; there has to be an end somewhere. I don't see any natural fast bowler after me." is interesting. Way to go chief.. By the way he also said "My pace is up there"..Up where? (Asif.. are you listening? I hope its not for you...)
But look at what he said.. What a lousy retiring statement.. This totally doesnt suit a Pakistani cricketer. There is no "for now" or "return on condition".. Learn from Mohd Yousuf. He is so classy in retirement statements.This is how he 'retired' - " This is my retirement. I have retired from international cricket. For now, this is it. For now this is my retirement.”. See how Yousuf carried out the backfoot defence? Textbook perfect.
Even with all his news making ability, he was more exciting than any other bowler with the exception of Shane Bond. Even when he was a total idiot, he was exciting and newsworthy. Also, I hope he is actually retiring because I dont want this write-up to be a waste.
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